


reach out to me

by bugheadtrash



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Jughead Jones Loves Betty Cooper, Not A Happy Ending, POV Jughead Jones, Past 5x05, The Voicemail, but he's also hurting, but we all know they will get back together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:34:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29882601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bugheadtrash/pseuds/bugheadtrash
Summary: “Hey Betty. I-I’m probably going to regret this in the morning, but I can’t bring myself to end the call and keep going with my life like everything is alright,” he paused for a few seconds and tried to take ahold of himself. He was mostly slurring, not being able to hide the fact that he had drunk more than six glasses of vodka and he was now a mess.“I published a book today. I’m not sure if you even know about it but I finally found the guts to share something so personal to me with the outside world and I don’t know how to feel. A part of me wishes you were here with me, smiling and feeling proud of who I have become.”ORJughead leaves a voicemail to Betty the day of his book launch.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Kudos: 9





	reach out to me

_“It’s beautiful. It's a beautiful story, Jug.”_

_“Really? You think it's worth submitting to the contest?”_

_“No, I think it's gonna win the contest.”_

_“I love you.”_

“I love you, too.”  
  


* * *

_I love you too_ , she had said. That’s the kind of person Betty was back when he still knew her, when they were still dating. Kind, caring, loving and supportive. Betty was always proud of him and encouraged Jughead to chase his dreams no matter what others believed. Her support was all he ever needed, and he was incredibly thankful for her.

_But then the kiss happened. And it ruined everything they had built during the 3 years they were together._

Honestly, he didn’t even know why he was thinking all these stuff at almost 3am. During the last 5 years that he was away from Riverdale and away from _her_ , he’s gone through the same thoughts over and over again. Mourning their relationship and the way it had ended in an instant. They both went their separate ways and acted as if they never meant something to each other, as if their love wasn’t enough to keep them together.

He was angry. He was angry at Betty, at himself, perhaps Archie too. He was also angry at Joanna and Trevor, his best friends that he had made during his time at Iowa, who always tried to make him forget her and move on. They couldn’t understand how hard that would be for him, to erase his past and simply move on. How could he ever forget Betty Cooper when he wrote a whole book about her, about their story? The same book he finally got to publish today after several months of meetings with plenty publishers, restless nights of editing chapters and lots of drinking.

Many years ago, a few moments before he had found the courage to finally kiss Betty in her childhood bedroom after years of pining, he had told her that they weren’t like their parents, which he truly believed at that point of his life. And yes, he had taken a different path from his father since Jughead actually went to college and – starting from this day – he could call himself a published author, but he still managed to take something from FP’s lifestyle. He had grown to love drinking his problems away most of the nights during the past few months.

And that’s what he was doing today. After celebrating his book launch with his publisher, his manager and a couple of friends in a bar he used to hang out to since he moved to the city, he returned to his apartment all alone and poured himself another glass of vodka. And then another one.

He had lost count of how much he had drunk when he saw his phone’s screen lighting up with a notification. He instantly grabbed it and read the message that was sent to him.

**_Veronica L._ **

_Congratulations on the book, Jughead. I have my own copy of “The Outcasts” and I can’t wait to read it, I’m sure everyone is so proud of you, including me!_

That was slightly unexpected, he mused. Veronica and Jughead had kept in touch, but they were definitely not friends. They lived in the same city and they texted each other once in a while, but he never thought she would buy his book and text him in the middle of the night. He still felt grateful for her support since she seemed to be the only person from his hometown who cared about him.

His thoughts went back to Betty. Jughead swore he didn’t want to think about her again, especially that night, but it was inevitable.

He glanced at his phone’s screen one more time. He hadn’t replied to Veronica’s message (and he would probably leave it for the next day, since he doubted he could write any proper sentences at the moment) and he unlocked his screen, immediately tapping at the _“Contacts”_ icon. Her name was one of the first to show up.

**_Betts <3_ **

Jughead was pathetic for not renaming her contact right after they broke up, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It was weird, but even by seeing her contact at his screen with the nickname he often used for her, always made him feel a little better. It felt like there was still a connection between them after these 5 whole years.

In the heat of the moment, he tapped the call button and pressed his phone to his ear.

 _That’s stupid_ , he thought _. He hadn’t spoken with her since that summer before each one took their own path. Besides, it was late and Jughead would disturb her sleep if she hadn’t turned off her phone._

Before he could make up any other scenarios and start stressing over what he would say to her if he heard Betty’s voice, his call went straight to voicemail.

_“Hi, it’s Betty! I can’t talk to you right now, but please leave a message.”_

_*Beep*_

He was lost for a moment. Jughead hadn’t heard her voice in a while now and he was taken aback by how much affect it still had on him. 

“Hey Betty. I-I’m probably going to regret this in the morning, but I can’t bring myself to end the call and keep going with my life like everything is alright,” he paused for a few seconds and tried to take ahold of himself. He was mostly slurring, not being able to hide the fact that he had drunk more than six glasses of vodka and he was now a mess. “I published a book today. I’m not sure if you even know about it but I finally found the guts to share something so personal to me with the outside world and I don’t know how to feel. A part of me wishes you were here with me, smiling and feeling proud of who I have become. But if I’m being honest, I don’t know if I can be proud of myself at this current moment of my life.” He took a deep breath before he kept going. He didn’t want to talk to her about his problem, so instead he focused on their ( _non-existent_ ) relationship.

“You know what? I hate you, Betty. I hate that you really had to ruin everything we had by kissing Archie, the only person that you knew I always felt insecure about.” Jughead was yelling now but he didn’t seem to care, his emotions overtaking him. “I hate that I can’t have you by my side and that I don’t even know what’s going on in your life now, since you never tried to reach out. I hate that even if you have probably left me in the past, I still think about you every single day and I can’t help but dream of you sometimes during the night. I want to finally let go of you, I wanna live my life like every normal person does,” he mumbled quietly, a few tears escaping his eyes. “I want to forget you. I don’t want to love you anymore because it only causes me pain and sadness. Sometimes I wish I had-”

_*Beep*_

“I wish I had tried harder. Maybe I should have fought for you, Betty Cooper,” he said to himself, since the message was cut off earlier than he expected, not letting him finish his thoughts.

“I hate that I’ll always be in love with you,” he whispered and let every emotion he had tried to hide out for the first time. He cried himself to sleep, hoping the following day would be easier for him. 

* * *

When he woke up, his first instinct was to check his phone for any notifications. Veronica’s message was still there, accompanied by two missed calls from Sam, his manager. It was 12pm, which means that Betty had probably woken up and heard his voicemail but still didn’t try to reach out. Or she simply ignored it, deleted it and kept going without him, as she had been doing for the past 5 years.

He had mixed emotions. Jughead was trying to remember if he asked her to call him back. He had, hadn’t he? His head was a mess and even if he had tried to go back to last night to recall his words to Betty, he failed.

 _Those damn drinks_ , he thought. Jughead had done this to himself. He was trying to avoid everything that was happening in his life by drinking and he reached a point where he couldn’t even recall important information. He quickly got up from his bed, walked towards his drink cabinet, grabbed every bottle from there and threw it in the trash.

No matter how painful his life had gotten, he would never try to hurt himself ever again.

_He would move on without her._

**Author's Note:**

> kudos & comments are highly appreciated!  
> i'm sorry if i made you sad, but i couldn't imagine this having a happy ending since it's canon that betty thinks jughead didn't want her to reach out after the voicemail he left her,
> 
> thank you so much for reading <3


End file.
